Senators Jeff Piccola (R-Dauphin), the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and Sen. Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) have formally introduced legislation to create a taxpayer-funded tuition voucher program. The bill is Senate Bil (SB) 1, and it will be the subject of a public hearing of the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 16.

Governor-elect Tom Corbett has selected his nominee to lead the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Ronald J. Tomalis is currently director of Dutko Worldwide/Whiteboard Advisers. He is an education consultant with an extensive background in education programs and services at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels who has worked extensively with No Child Left Behind.

Mr. Tomalis served as chief of staff under U.S. Education Secretary Eugene Hickock, and as special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. He also served as executive deputy secretary of education in the Ridge Administration when Mr. Hickock was the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education.

He is a graduate of Dickinson College where Mr. Hickock was a professor.

Subscribing to the new RSS feed will keep you updated on the latest publicly available content added to the PA Principals Association web site. In order to see the latest content which is available only to members, you will still need to visit the site and log in. It will not be included in the feed. http://www.paprincipals.org/resources/rss-feeds.html

PA Principals Association is encouraging its members to reserve time on Friday, April 15, 2011 to contact their state representative and/or senator to increase awareness of issues affecting school principals and other educational leaders. More details on PA Principals Association's 2011 Principals's Advocacy Day to follow.

Dr. Joan Crouse, a former PA Principals Association board member and the director of literacy and ESL services for the Conewago Valley S.D. in New Oxford, Pa., has been appointed by the PA Principals Association president to serve as the chairperson of the 2011 PA Principals Association Nominations Committee. Brian Cashman, Sr., a retired secondary principal (Southern York County School District), and Michael Gay, an elementary principal in the Sharon City School District, will also serve on the committee. A link to your e-ballot will be sent via email on March 21, 2011. The election will close on April 1, 2011.

Click Here for the Open Board Positions for the 2011 PA Principals Association Election. Candidate forms are due in the PA Principals Association office by Feb. 22, 2011!

Acting Secretary of Education Thomas Gluck has announced that his last day at the Pennsylvania Department of Education will be Friday, December. Starting in January, he will be employed as senior advisor to the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units. In this role, he will be working with intermediate units to help strengthen and expand the ways they can support students, schools and communities across the commonwealth.

Starting on January, Deputy Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Amy Morton will assume the role of Acting Secretary for the balance of Governor Rendell's term.

According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gov.-elect Tom Corbett on Tuesday announced his first cabinet appointments, tapping four longtime aides from the state Attorney General'ss Office to become members of his inner circle when he becomes governor. Corbett named Brian Nutt as his chief of staff; Annmarie Kaiser as his legislative affairs secretary; Jennifer Branstetter as his policy and planning director; and Kevin Harley as communications director. "I'm grateful that such an experienced and trusted group of professionals is joining my administration," Corbett said in a statement. "They have worked closely with me on a daily basis for years, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we tackle the challenges facing Pennsylvania." Click here to read the Philadelphia Inquirer article.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is expected to give school districts their preliminary file of graduation rate data very soon and the next step is for the department to release state-level data to the media. It is imperative that all school districts ensure that their graduation rate data has been sent to PDE, and that the information sent is correct.

All school administrators are strongly urged to check with their staff to ensure that their district's graduation rate data has been accurately recorded into the department's Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS). If after reviewing this information, you believe there is an error with your data, please have your PIMS administrator contact Michele Hiester at PDE immediately via email at mhiester@state.pa.us.

Pennsylvania will soon use a 4-Year Cohort Graduation Rate for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) determination. Previously, the state used a "leaver rate" for graduation rate calculations, which calculated the aggregate number of students that did not leave high school prior to graduating. The new methodology is an entirely different calculation that determines the percent of students that complete high school within four years. In addition to the information being made public, the 2009-10 4-Year Cohort Graduation Rates will be used to determine state goals and targets for AYP purposes. While the new calculation method will not be used for AYP determinations until 2012, PDE is required to post district-level graduation rates on the department website.

In preparation for the release of this data to the media, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) is offering a free web conference to discuss the new federal graduation rate calculations. The event web conference will take place at noon next Wednesday, Dec. 8, as Jennifer Waltz from PDE's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education explains the new federal changes to the graduation rate calculation methods, what it will mean for school districts and how they can put a positive spin on the new numbers. Superintendents, high school principals, communications/public relations officers and school board members should all participate in this opportunity. For more details or to register, visit: http://www.psba.org/workshops/web-conference/.

Gov.-elect Tom Corbett has announced more than 400 members of his transition team. The transition team is made up of 17 different committees, each examining a specific area of state government. The members of each of committee, who are volunteering their time, are tasked with reviewing the operations of the state government departments and agencies under the governor's jurisdiction and will prepare a transition report for Gov.-elect Corbett.

The Education Committee consists of various individuals, many who are associated with charter, cyber charter or private schools and are strong supporters of voucher programs -- others are from higher education. Serving on the education committee are: